


Sleeping Beauty

by AthenaScarlet



Series: The Clothes Make the Man [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Leather Jackets, True Love's Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-04
Updated: 2014-04-04
Packaged: 2018-02-09 00:41:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1962429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AthenaScarlet/pseuds/AthenaScarlet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He was too late to save Emma from the wrath of the Wicked Witch. Now he was given a second chance to make things right -- a chance that everyone but Hook thought would succeed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleeping Beauty

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published as part of a group of one-shots. I broke this out so it could be used for a collection instead. Enjoy it again or for the first time!

He doesn’t remember exactly how he got there. There was yelling and blood on his hands and he had to take a breath just to compose himself. It was the entrance of a house … Regina’s house! There was the dining room and the kitchen and …

“Mate! In here!” Hook yelled, directing David to Regina’s living room. The prince carried his unconscious daughter into the room with her mother following quickly behind. He gently laid her down on the sofa, her blonde hair cascading over the side of the cushions.

“Is there a blanket or something to cover her?” Mary Margaret asked desperately.

“Here, m’lady,” Hook said, quickly taking the long leather coat off his back for Emma. Mary Margaret laid it on top of her, trying hard to make sure she was comfortable even if she wasn’t awake to appreciate it.

“Hook, quick! Close the doors in case the witch followed us!” David demanded.

But he just stood there in shock, trying to piece together what had just happened outside. There had been fighting -- a lot of fighting -- and he saw Emma standing in front of the witch. He remembered running, sword in hand, desperately trying to do something.

“The witch didn’t follow us.”

“What?” the prince yelled at him. “How do you know she didn’t?”

Hook looked down at his hands, red with her wicked blood. “The witch is dead,” he said, lifting his eyes up to meet the prince’s glare.

David’s face softened and his wife, who was kneeling by their daughter, grabbed his hand. The prince looked at the pirate and nodded, a wordless attempt at trying to thank him for helping Emma.

Although frankly he hadn’t been much help considering her current state, lifeless on some sofa in the mayor’s home. He had failed her and the realization made his legs too weak to stand on. Hook slid down the wall, which at least gave his back some support to prevent him from becoming a heap of a human being on the floor. He felt drained, as if he was willing whatever life was left in his body to wake Emma.

But it wasn’t working. Instead, he just sat and watched as Mary Margaret held Emma’s hand, brushing the hair out of her face. Then she pulled the coat -- Hook’s coat -- tighter around Emma’s shoulders as if keeping her warm would wake her up.

He looked down at his hand and his hook, both still bright with blood. At least his hook had been helpful in dealing with that witch’s demise after he had stabbed her with his …

“Where’s my sword?” Hook asked, a quiet but baffled tone to his voice.

“Nice shot, Captain.” Regina came striding into the room, unceremoniously dropping his sword next to him. It rang as it hit the marble floor and Hook only briefly looked at it before watching the mayor head towards Emma.

“Can you help her?” David asked, a plea in his voice.

“Let’s see what we can do,” Regina answered.

Emma’s parents moved out of the way as Hook stood to sheath his sword and get a better view of what exactly Regina was doing. It had probably only been moments but to Hook, it felt like ages as he watched the mayor place her hand on Emma’s forehead. Why couldn’t she be quicker? Just tell him what was wrong so he could fix it. Hook felt like his strength was returning now that he thought he would have a purpose again. He was ready to run to Regina’s crypt to get some potion or over to city hall to nab something from the mayor’s office, whatever was needed.

“I think I know what it may be,” Regina said with relief in her voice. “Did any of you see what happened to Emma?”

Mary Margaret and David turned to stare at the pirate.

Hook took a breath. He didn’t want to do this, not in front of her parents. He didn’t want to admit that he had failed her. But he would force himself to do it if it could help Emma. “The witch … she had Swan cornered with a green ball of light on her hand. I just ran and stabbed her in the back with my sword and then my hook and …” He took a breath, dropping his eyes to the floor. He couldn’t look at them when he told them what happened next. “I was too late.”

“You weren’t too late,” Regina said. Hook looked up in shock to see a smile forming on her lips.

“That’s not funny, Regina,” Hook sneered. “If I had made it there to help Emma, she wouldn’t be in this state!” He felt shame begin to wash over him again.

The mayor walked over to him, her smile getting bigger. He didn’t like this new warm and fuzzy thing that the former evil queen had taken on now that she was with Robin, and it was even more jarring as Emma lay motionless on her sofa. Hook forced himself to look at her and the smile that was still on her face. “You made it in time,” she said gently. “It could have been much worse, but you hurt the witch enough that she could only conjure a sleeping curse.”

Hook looked at Mary Margaret, a smile beginning to creep onto her face. David was a little more stoic, but the tension in his body seemed to be disappearing. “I don’t understand. Why is that good if she’s still in this state?”

“True love’s kiss.”

Mary Margaret’s words began to echo in his ears. This is really not good, Hook thought. “It won’t work,” he said incredulously. “I tried it. It won’t work.”

“When did you try it?” David asked, unable to hide the surprise from his voice.

As if having to describe the witch’s death wasn’t bad enough. Now he had to relive this indignity. “New York. I tried to kiss her and … she hit me.”

“Mary Margaret did that to me once,” the prince replied.

“In my nether region.”

David’s face contorted into a painful grimace while his wife beamed with pride. “That’s my girl.”

“Aye, she definitely is that,” Hook said. “But she’s not my true love.”

Mary Margaret walked up to him and looked him in the eye. “Yes, she is.”

The pirate’s eyes began to scan the room. His three companions were all looking back at him so warmly, so sure that he was going to save Emma. Did they not see that he had been too late to stop a curse from hitting her? Hell, he was so shocked at what had happened that it was David -- not him -- who had the mind to scoop Emma up and carry her here.

Hook shook his head and let out a small bitter laugh. “I told you, the kiss didn’t work.”

“She didn’t know who you were. That’s why it didn’t work,” Mary Margaret explained hopefully. “She knows you now.”

Hook just stared at the couple as David came up to stand next to his wife. “You brought our daughter back to us once. You can do it again.”

He could only stare back at them in shock.

“Why don’t we give the pirate some privacy?” Regina suggested.

Mary Margaret smiled and nodded at him followed by David giving him a manly squeeze on the arm. And if that wasn’t enough, Regina gave him a quick wink before walking toward the door. A wink? What is wrong with that woman? Hook thought.

And then it was silent and still. After all the craziness in the street, after all the fighting, after the talking in Regina’s living room. After all of that, it was just Emma -- the savior -- and Hook was supposed to save her.

He sat down on the sofa next to her quiet body, running his hand along the leather coat covering her arm. It felt so different when she was the one wearing it and if this worked, he would have to remember to make her wear it more often.

He leaned over closely so she could hear what he was about to say to her -- if she could hear it. “Swan, if you don’t wake, I’ll understand. But I assure you I will find a way to get you back to me.”

He cupped her cheek in his hand and took a deep breath. Her lips were warm but lifeless to his touch and the fear that this wouldn’t work came creeping into his thoughts.

And then he started to feel something. It was as if the blood in his body was beginning to heat up, starting with his lips, his chest and finally his whole body. Then Emma’s lips moved and she was kissing him back. Her hand snaked its way through his hair as she began to awake under his body. But then he felt her stiffen, her lips no longer responding to his.

He felt an electric jolt to his chest that violently threw him on the floor.

“Bloody hell, woman!” he yelled, his hand immediately reaching to cool the sting from where she zapped him.

“What’s wrong with you?” she asked in horror, quickly discarding his coat and throwing it on the floor.

“You can’t be serious?” he screamed back, forgetting the pain she had just caused him. “I was trying to save you from a sleeping curse!”

This is just brilliant, Hook thought as he stood, violently reclaiming his coat and shoving his arms in the sleeves. Her parents -- her father! -- had talked him into this stupid plan and all it got him was severe physical pain and his beloved leather coat in a heap on the dirty floor. Sure, it wasn’t the first time that had happened to his dear jacket, but those previous instances usually involved activities of a more enticing nature with women. This was a dead witch and a kiss that could only break her spell because it was true love.

True love.

Hook stopped and stared at Emma, a look of shock on his face. She must’ve realized the same thing at that moment, her hands snapping up to cover her mouth. “You tried true love’s kiss and I hurt you,” she said, her voice muffled.

“At least you went for my chest this time, love. Much less painful,” he answered sarcastically.

She walked towards him and put her hand on his chest, her touch cooling the burn she had placed there moments before. “You saved me.”

“Once again,” he noted. “For such a strong woman, you’re quite the damsel in dis…”

But he couldn’t finish, his lips stopped by hers as she pulled him to her. And this time, her lips were warm and wet and full of life. He could feel his heart racing as he kissed her harder and more deliberately. It wasn’t some life-saving, curse-breaking kiss. It was passionate and emotional and charged.

And then he started to cough, the pain returning to his chest caused by her magic touch. He could hear her trying to quiet her giggling at his predicament.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t laugh,” she said, reaching towards his reddened flesh. “That was my fault. You just startled me.”

“Is that what happened?” Hook asked, a bit of bitterness creeping into his voice.

She gave him a slight smile, easing the sting just a little bit. “I really am sorry.”

He couldn’t help but smile back. “Well, I suppose I could find a way for you to make it up to me later,” he said suggestively before wrapping his arm around her shoulder. “Come on, love. Your family awaits.”

But she just froze in place. “My family?” she asked. “Oh no. Did they tell you to do this?”

“And Regina. She diagnosed you with the sleeping curse.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “I bet my mother was thrilled that you were here to break it with a kiss,” she said sarcastically.

“Actually, your mother is quite the romantic,” he said. “You father, on the other hand, looked like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to punch me or hug me. It was rather disturbing.”

Emma put her arm around his waist and pulled him closer to her. “Thank you,” she said quietly as they began to walk towards the door.

He gently planted a light kiss on her forehead. “It was a pleasure, Your Highness.”


End file.
